Author Event: Dav Pilkey and Dan Santat
A couple of weeks ago, I took my boys to see Dav Pilkey, author/illustrator of the Captain Underpants series, and Dan Santat, author/illustrator of several children’s books and creator of the Disney animated series, The Replacements. The event was sponsored by local children’s book store, Reading Reptile, and The Kansas City Public Library. They were promoting the reissue of Pilkey’s Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot series with all new illustrations done by Santat.
Santat spoke first and talked about how he became a great artist by practicing, practicing, practicing. He showed pictures he drew from his childhood and adolescence, showing how he started out copying the other’s work, including an amazing drawing of Garfield he did when he was seven. It looked like the real thing! Then he moved into having his own ideas and creating his own work. He went through the evolution of his interpretation of the robot in the Ricky Ricotta books. It was interesting to see how much the final image changed from what he started with.
Then it was Pilkey’s turn. He spoke about how he had ADHD and anxiety in elementary school and was always getting into trouble. His teacher was mean to him because she didn’t understand how to deal with him. He wrote and illustrated his first book in elementary school using characters he still draws today and his teacher THREW IT AWAY! Can you imagine what that would be worth today?? Ugh. His message was that even if you don’t do well in school, that doesn’t mean that you can’t grow up to be a successful person.
At the end, they played a fun game where they each drew a picture blindfolded. The kids in the audience were rolling with laughter watching them. Both pictures actually turned out really good. After that they took questions from the audience. West, my seven year-old, asked Santat if he could draw a gear. (Why? Who knows?) First he drew a gear shift, teasing West because he knew he wanted the other kind of gear. West loved it. A lady sitting next to me suggest that I ask Santat if we could keep the drawing.
When were in line waiting to get our books signed, West told the woman herding people (who I think was either the editor or the publicist) that he was going to ask if he could keep the drawing. This lady was aghast. No, no, no – there was no way he could keep the drawing. He could get his picture taken with it and that was it. That was fine with me; I figured it was a long shot anyway. When we got up to the table, West asked went ahead and asked if he could keep the drawing. Santat couldn’t resist his sweet face (I’m assuming) and said of course he could keep the drawing. Then Pilkey said that if we were taking it, Santat should sign it. So he did! West was one happy little boy!
The boys and I both had so much fun at this event. Both authors had great messages for the kids, which they imparted in a funny way that the kids could understand without feeling like they were listening to a lecture. They also included a few jokes for the parents that probably went over most kids heads. If you ever have the chance to see either one of these authors, I suggest you jump at it!
